Analyst Exit: Restructuring to Corporate Development?
Currently a second year analyst in a strong Restructuring group thinking about making the jump to corporate development after my stint in banking. I know traditionally a restructuring background is incredibly valuable on the buyside, but after this COVID frenzy I definitely feel burnt out to say the least. My ultimate goal was Corporate Development after a stint on the buyside, but now I'd rather just try to make the direct jump if the right opportunity presents itself. I can't find any peers from my bank who have made this jump directly (have seen it after a stint of PE in-between), so wanted to ask if anyone here has seen this transition before or has made the jump themselves. From a skillset standpoint I feel that I'm strong what one should be versed with when recruiting for the buyside (i.e. modeling three statements, DCF's, and LBO's), but definitely lack the direct merger model and M&A transaction oriented experience. Currently brushing up on the weak points here and hoping to have them refined in the very near future.
A few questions below:
- Does a RX background put you at a distinct disadvantage for this type of role and if so how much more challenging would you say it is to break in?
- How did you overcome a lack of direct M&A experience? I've worked on a few distressed M&A mandates, but nothing that fully resembles a regular way transaction. The majority of my work has been your traditional RX advisory processes.
- Perhaps a follow-up to question #2, but what impact would you say a lack of direct M&A experience had on your interviews? Did this lead to more M&A technicals and/or modeling tests?
- Any guidance as to best prepare for corporate development interviews vs. buyside interviews? Given that my original goal was PE I feel extremely confident walking into a PE interview right now, but I'm curious to know if there's anything else I should be prepared to master aside from M&A technicals.
Appreciate any help and insight from WSO.
Bump
To preface, I’m an associate in RX and do not work in corpdev but can be a bit helpful here I think, though obviously grain of salt.
Your experience in distressed m&a is great and you should talk that up. Regular distressed advising isn’t overly helpful in corpdev because it’s not really what they do - they are targeting healthy m&a. That said, all you really need to do is show them you have the chops to do that and pointing to real m&a work (and closed deals, even better) is a great step in that direction.
The interviews will almost certainly have a merger model you need to complete. You would be well served to brush up on your equity method accounting, merger math and PF balance sheet calculations. I’m not sure about the rest of the interview process to be frank, but have helped colleagues with these modeling tests at a few F500 interview processes, so can speak to that point confidently.
As a data point, I don’t think you’re at a disadvantage. I have received ~4 inbounds from headhunters this January alone for director level corpdev roles, and I’m in restructuring not m&a. If you’re burned out, now is a great time to leave - you’re young, you have the right technical skills and you have interest, that’s the most important. Good luck!
This is a very helpful response thank you. I feel like my story is strong and will definitely swing me in the right direction so what's left for now is polishing off my merger math & modeling.
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